Don’t junk the pre-conditions in the road map

A standard example of unfair negotiations is when one side “moves the goalposts” by increasing its demands just as the other side tries to fulfill them. The “peace process” with the Palestinians suffers from the opposite problem: whenever there seems to be an opportunity for the Palestinians to move in the right direction, the goalposts are quickly moved toward them, thereby eliminating any incentive for and bringing a halt to the much-desired progress.Such is the case with Prime Minister Olmert’s meeting with Palestinian Authority President Abbas on Monday. At that meeting, Olmert reportedly discussed “fundamental issues” with the purpose of developing a “framework” for a Palestinian state. In other words, Olmert seems to be caving in to pressure from the US to fudge the sequencing of the road map, which clearly requires that terrorism be fought first and a Palestinian state negotiated later.

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